The morning news. [volume] (Savannah, Ga.) 1887-1900, 1887-11-28
The No-Fence Law.

1uo NO-p 5llce Law.
There is growing disposition in this
State to do away with fences. That being
the case some facts relative to the working
of such law elsewhere may be of interest.
The Farmers Advocate says that the law
in New York State is so entirely satisfac-
tory that the farmer would not willingly
submit to the penalty of having his crops
destroyed by what are called road cattle, to
put himself to the expense and often great
inconvenience of building barrier of pre-
scribed strength and stature for the proper
fencing out of somebody elses cattle. He
may have no cattle himself or wish to have
his land on the front of his premises cum
bered with a fence; but, for the want of q
proper herd law to protect him, his crops,
or his lawn, or his garden, may be destroyed
by neighbours COW, without redress, unless,
forsooth, he can prove that he had provided
a good legal fence for that neighbours COW
and used proper precautions to keep her
out.
But now, seeing how well we do under
our present herd law and how much every
one is pleased with it, there is not a New
York State man who would willingly sub
NIT to the expense, care and vexation of
guarding his premises against road cattle
The way this absurd old practice came to
be handed down to us was like this: The
first settlers. whether in the woods or on the
prairie, would fence around their first clear
ing or improvement, but let the stock run
at large. This continuing until all the land
came under improvement left what stock
was running at large to be on the public
roads, and every farmer was obliged to
fence against them to save his crops 1t
was well known, too, that these road cattle
learned to be very shrewd in opening gates
or in slyly slipping through gaps, or in
jumping fences, to feed on and destroy gar
dens and crops.
After adopting the new herd law here, a
few farmers who would dare to do it, threw
open their gates and let down their bars and
fence gaps, and finding this to be perfectly
safe, as there were no cattle or hogs in the
streets, they finally, as occasion required,
would remove their street fences altogether
and withal, would be very agreeably sur
prised to find that their gardens, crops or
premises would all rest much more secure
even thrown open to the roads than they
formerly could with the best of fencing
This is coming to be so well understood
now throughout the country, towns and
cities, that the front and road fences are
being removed to great extent throughout
the State.
Many costly and good ones are taken
away, others that were old and poor are
cleared off, and the ground made available
for moving or for crops, and the premises
look much the better of it; for, in fact, all
fencing that is not needed is only nuisance
that should not be tolerated or allowed to
cucumber ones premises. The face of ma
ture or the landscape looks the better if I'M
INSTRUCTED by fence, and can better take
care of itself, too, for any fence is harbor
for foul growths and for vermin, and causes
drifts to obstruct travel or smother crops,
so much so that for all the fencing needed
on the farm, as far as possible / would use
portable fences, which could be removed
when not needed and either put under shell
ter until wantel another season or used for
fencing another lot in the rotation course.
Before adopting our present cattle law it
was only few of the most enterprising
farmers that would dress and keep the road
sides along the farm front free of foul
growths and in good trim, or would have
the courage to plant shade trees along the
highways, when, after much stalking and
guarding, they were so liable to be destroyed
by these street cattle. But with our pres
ent law all this is changed, and for the bet
ter, and now many farmers, after first re-
moving road fence, extend the field tillage
and crops out to the centre of the road or
to the wagon tracks, and these, whatever
they be, are seldom disturbed in the least,
but harvested with the rest; the ground
seeded to or ~ and clover to be moved by
machine the fos"wing year.